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Savuti Camp - December 2012

Another month has come and gone, this particular one marking the end of year 2012. Christmas fever embraced us and the mood could be felt from all ends of the camp - guests and staff alike maintained this to the end. The guests loved it here, as the weather was ideal for drives and bush brunches.

The Savuti Team has some very good voices so we could not contain ourselves at meal times: our pre-dinners had to be marked with a song or two and a little dancing that would involve guests who opted to join in, followed by drumming - which was to alert everyone that dinner was ready. The guests felt so much at home. Sitting around the bar just before the sun set was the icing on the cake with the beautiful red colour scattered in the sky and reflecting on the Savute Channel that flows right in front of camp with a big hippo that had paid us a visit for weeks; he had become part of the welcome committee. In the distance we could see some beautiful lightning bolts that made it look like the sky was busy taking pictures of us from above.

With all this joy surrounding us, nature continued as usual: some impala became supper for a pack of wild dogs that spent some time around camp and would hunt right in camp - this was such a surprise as it is very rare to have such an experience. As we marked the last day of the year, these dogs killed an impala in the camp parking area.

We also had a surprise visit from those giants of the bush, the elephants. They came to show us their newly born ones, walking majestically through the camp, silently making their way into the mopane woodlands.

Nothing pleases the Savuti Team more than guests coming back to camp in smiles because they had seen a pride of 12 lions feeding on a buffalo kill... the best part of the story is that the guests witnessed the entire hunting process before the buffalo was brought to his knees. Earlier during the day, the same guests had seen a female leopard with her very shy cub.

As it is the rainy season, everyone is singing happy songs, from birds singing the whole day until we all retire to bed before another 05h30 wake-up call, to the bull frogs and reed frogs who take over from the roosting birds and sing lullabies setting us off to a peaceful sleep.

Just before the guides can wake their guests up, the francolins and spurfowls have long awakened us with their sharp voices early in the morning. The mornings would start with showers from the sky above, slowly drizzling, awakening the green leaves on the trees in camp and cleaning the air making it even fresher and the temperatures warming up a bit making it more comfortable for a new day. All this sent everyone in need of a nice and warm beverage before going out on their morning game drive.

As everyone sits down for breakfast, the waiters couldn't help running around after their uninvited and demanding guests, the vervet monkeys. It's so amazing how clever they are to have marked all the meal times because they would not miss a meal except for dinner which is after their bedtime.

The above was a very brief description of how December was in Savuti Bush Camp. The camp will now be closed until March 2013 for refining retouches that will make it more beautiful than ever. We look forward to reopening this camp with a slight new face!